Walt Disney World's River Country (a water park adjacent to Disney's Fort

Wilderness Resort and Campground) opens. Inspired by Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom

Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, it is Disney's first attempt at a themed water park. Positioned on the shore of Bay

Lake near Discovery Island, River Country is filled with rocks and manmade boulders and features water slides and

an inner tube river. On this day, U.S. President Gerald Ford's daughter Susan helps with the official opening. (River

Country will close in November 2001, due in part to Florida Laws prohibiting the use of natural bodies of water for

water park use, but its success will later lead to Disney's Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach.)

1995:

The Walt Disney Company announces plans for a fourth theme park in Florida,

(at this time) called Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom.

The park is expected to cost $760 million to create.

The Walt Disney World attraction

ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter officially begins operation in Tomorrowland (replacing Flight to the Moon). A "theater-in-the-round" attraction, it is a darkly humorous science-fiction experience that used binaural sound to achieve many of its effects.

1999:

At Disneyland, the 20th Century Music Company opens on Main Street. The shop offers Disney CDs and videos, including ones featuring Disneyland entertainers.